Road Trips

Summer reminds me of the numerous road trips our family would take when we kids were growing up. Road trips were a part of life for us, partly because we had so many relatives on the East Coast, partly because my parents were in ministry, and partly because my dad just loves to travel and see new things. My earliest memory was when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I think we were driving across the country to visit relatives in Maine. We drove a pickup truck with a shell on it. My two sisters and I were back there with little benches and table. I remember being excited about the little personal sized boxes of cereal my mom got for us. I think she knew that the right food on a long trip has a huge effect on the happiness of all concerned. The other thing I remember about that trip was leaving home in the middle of the night (or maybe it was returning) and being groggily aware that my dad was carrying me. Oh for those days when I didn't have to contribute to any preparations, but could just go to sleep and wake up on the road!

Later on, many trips were taken in a red and brown 70's vintage station wagon. I never see those things any more! The must have evolved into the mini-van and SUV. Anyway, we probably had several in a row, but I just remember maroon leather seats that would get beastly hot in the sun. In we'd all pile, after my dad had scientifically packed the luggage and studied the map, and my mom had strategically placed the snacks. Lori would get one window seat, Jill would get the other, and I was stuck in the middle. My feet would be confined to the little dividing hump on the floor, and woe betide me if a foot strayed to one side or the other, or if my little arm bumped some older arm! When I was small enough (which didn't last very long), I would sometimes sit between my parents or stretch out across their laps. One time my dad got pulled over for speeding, but when the officer saw my cute little sleeping form, he had a change of heart and let my dad off with a warning! On long stretches of road with no civilization or car in site, my dad would let me stear, and boy, did I feel SO grown-up! I was sure that I was ready to get my license -- all you had to be able to do was stear the car!

But back to the back seat. We girls were always on the tall side for our age, and it wasn't long before our perimeters narrowed dangerously. Being the family clown, I was either annoying someone to death or keeping everybody from boredom. One time, I demonstrated how a dog scratches his neck with his hind leg. Unfortunately, my extended knee collided with Jill's newly acquired ice cream cone, much to her consternation! I was in the dog house after that. Hee hee! Ah, sweet memories. Despite the sibling squabbles, we did have a lot of fun.

"So where do you want to eat?" my dad would ask. But do you think we'd all choose the same place? Noooo. One would want Taco Bell, another MacDonald's, another Wendy's. Finally my long-suffering dad would just drive into one place and declare it was either that or nothing. I was the odd one in our family in that the hungrier I got, the crazier I got, whereas my mom and sisters would get quieter and grouchier. Maybe God sent me into the family to bring a little balance to the mix. :-)

"Who has to use the rest area?" Children up to a certain age seldom understand the workings of the bladder. If you don't feel like you have to go, then why go? So if we got ten miles beyond the rest area and I merely stated that I needed to go to the bathroom, I simply couldn't understand the inevitable "Why didn't you go at the rest area?" "I didn't have to go then!" I would wail. Duh. Now I teach elementary school and I'm the one asking, "Why didn't you go at recess?" Some things never change!

Despite these normal little incidents, we made some very happy memories. Traveling is such a great way for kids to learn history and geography! I remember visiting such sites as Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, the White House, the Badlands, Great America, Little Big Horn (Custer's last stand), and a bajillion other places I can't recall at the moment. I just wish I had been older to appreciate and understand the great sites we visited. We'd visit my grandparents in Maine and New Hampshire, attend church conventions and homeschool conferences, and see anybody else we remotely knew or shared blood with.

In 1989 we graduated to a van conversion. Wow, did that change life! Jill and Lori each had a captain's chair and I had the WHOLE back bench to myself! Aside from the occasional car sickness, I had it made. We each had room to put our 50 pounds of stuff and nobody's hip was touching anybody else's hip. With this van we made the move from California to Washington in 1990. Our bigger stuff was in a moving van, but our small and personal stuff, plus the cat, were in the van. Traveling with a cat was great fun once he stopped glaring at us from underneath the bench and actually ventured forth to explore and cautiously peer out the windows.

Ah, the stories could go on, but this is already way too long. Our last major trip was in 1995. Lori had married in 1993. The four of us left visted Chicago, Knoxville, Virginia, and New York before heading home. Our enthusiasm for long trips had waned considerably as we'd gotten older, and that trip had lessened the charm even more. In 1998, we went to a conference in California, and that was the last family trip we took before Evan snatched Jill up that Christmas. Now we reminisce about those good ol' days, forgetting, of course, the unpleasant parts. But someday, I want to pack my kiddos into the mini-van, throw in the snacks, and see the States! Nothing like it.